Crossover
Chapter 10: The Other Perspective
Crescent politely gestured for his master to climb aboard first. However, Kuro did not move from his spot even after Crescent called his name a couple of times.
‘Seriously? We’ll have this soft and fluffy dragon as our ride? Isn’t this too much for the heart? Damn, I wish I had my camera right now. It could’ve been very useful.’
Crescent tapped Kuro multiple times before the latter finally responded. Crescent repeated what he said, and Kuro embarrassingly agreed. He latched his hands on the fur and couldn’t help but melt with the silkiness and fluffiness it felt on his hands. Due to his extreme excitement, he was once again stunned on his spot.
Crescent released a sigh, and with a wave of his hands, countless black threads appeared below Kuro’s feet and lifted him up. Kuro was dumbfounded and embarrassed at the same time. He landed on the comfortable fur of the dragon and almost fainted in happiness. The fluffiness was definitely more than that of his stuffed toys at home.
Kuro couldn’t finally control himself and rolled around, clutched the dragon's fur, trying to bury himself inside the thick fur. He did everything that would allow him to savor the fluffiness.
Crescent smiled, shook his head, and felt helpless. He knew that this would happen, yet, he didn’t anticipate that it would be this extreme. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop his master and let him play around.
Raphael did not get angry with Kuro’s action and was instead amused. After a good while, Kuro calmed himself, panting, and a bit tired. Crescent raised his hands, and black threads appeared on Kuro’s lap, acting like a seatbelt. Afterward, Raphael started to flap his wings and flew.
Meanwhile, Rosalie was riding on Alios’ back, followed behind. Her hands were grasping Alios’ soft fur. She didn’t show any nervousness or fear of heights. The duo actually enjoyed the flight not knowing that the atmosphere around the adults in front of them was about to become tense.
“Like I quoth earlier, we had expected thy arrival. Not thy arrival in this realm, yet thy arrival in this world.”
This immediately caught Kuro, who was still trying to sate his desire to bury his entirety on Raphael’s fluffy body, off guard.
“As Wisdom Dragons, it is apparent that our might hath a kinship with wisdom. However, in verity, we possess an additional potency drawn from it. This is the ability to behold a small part of the future. And I witnessed two fragments thereof.”
“W-Wait.” Kuro was actually having a difficult time understanding Raphael’s wordings. It was different from the modern language he was using today. Crescent, as if noticing his master’s worries, lent a hand.
“Master, allow me to cast a magic spell that would automatically translate the words that Mr. Raphael speaks to your own convenience.”
He pointed his index finger towards Kuro’s forehead and muttered, “Universal Comprehension.”
A small speck of black light transferred from Crescent’s index finger to Kuro’s forehead and entered. Crescent gave a smile, “Master will now be able to comprehend any language at your own convenience.”
Kuro gave Crescent his deepest gratitude and asked Raphael, “Would you mind providing more detail with this?” Kuro became serious in an instant. If their arrival was expected; therefore, there must be more to it. Based on his modern knowledge of movies, prophecies were mostly useful for the entire plot of the story.
“Very well then. The prophecy was given to me a year ago. It showed me the Valley of Flowers from Lazurias Forest and somewhere, a patch of a black hole appeared. A long cyan-haired man and a black cat landed on the bed of flowers. That was the first fragment of the future.”
Kuro was relieved that the magic spell Crescent casted worked. He gave Crescent a smile and thumbs-up. Crescent saw this and smiled in return.
On the other hand, he thought that the prophecy was exactly the same as what Rosanna said when he was rescued. “How about the other?”
“Young man, Kuro. I am afraid that this prophecy directly concerns you. But it is not a good one. Will you still care to hear it?”
Kuro pondered for a moment. But if he could get all the information he needed... “Please proceed.”
“The other fragment showed me of you, gravely injured, holding a black sword, and fighting a woman with four-colored hair. It appeared to me as if you were… losing.”
Kuro became alert, “A battle? Where and when did it happen?”
Raphael shook its head, “I am afraid that I don’t have all the details. But I recognized the place where the battle took place. It is the castle where the royal family lives, now inhabited by the man named Damascus.”
Kuro took a deep breath. He was honestly a bit nervous after hearing the second fragment of Raphael’s prophecy. “This fragment of the future seems bad, well for me. But I think it also shows that I will somewhat interfere with this continent’s ongoing war. Perhaps, it is inevitable.”
Prophecies work one way or another, even after knowing the distant future.
“There are lots of things I want to ask about the prophecies, but perhaps I’ll just ask one. This girl, do you somewhat recognize her?”
Raphael was silent for a moment, as if trying to recover her memories, “I am afraid I don’t.”
Kuro released a deep sigh and a little bit of a frown before burying himself in Raphael’s fur.
“Well, that’s my last question for the prophecies you mentioned. If you permit, Mr. Raphael, can you narrate your perspective of what really happened nine years ago? It would be really useful to look from the other perspective.”
“Young man, Kuro, this would be a lengthy story. I hope you would not be bored in the meantime.”
Kuro shook his head, ‘I’m afraid I might treat this as a bedtime story instead with all these fluffiness around me.’
Raphael flapped his wings before responding, “Very well then, hang on tight as I narrate the events that transpired nine years ago.
Before the Dragonar family’s demise, a mysterious power tried to control us, the wisdom dragons. However, it failed due to our resilient mind. We never thought that it was the empire’s royal family tamers who controlled us since the power of the tamers was absolute; it never failed even once.
The power that controlled us was weaker, it didn’t even manage to break the barriers inside our mind. But, we were unexpectedly ambushed thereafter by some Dark Dragons; it seemed that some were successfully controlled by that power.
Thus, we had engaged in battle. Our previous home became desolate as constant attacks had devastated the vicinity of the fight. It was definitely our win, for our numbers were greater than them. But we were also gravely injured.
We, the wisdom dragons, are not suitable for extreme fights. Our wisdom granted us the ability to create our own spell; however, the Dark Dragons are known for their horrendous attack and defense.
Fortunately, the chief of Dark Dragons was left unaffected, and he came to help us fend off his controlled kins. We have anticipated that they were not the only ones who were controlled that time. This was confirmed by the chief of Dark Dragons, Berrylius. He informed me of the rampage of the Rock Dragons on their domain.
Only us, Wisdom Dragons, and some of the Dark Dragons remained sane. We tried to release the minds of the Dark Dragons with our spell, and they were freed from the control. Yet, it dealt us huge damage due to the backlash of the control.
We had to hide to recuperate, and this is the place we stumbled upon.
A hundred years ago, we found the hidden realm in the form of a floating orb near the ancient ruin on the southern continent, where we formerly lived, and decided to hide it. We took the orb as we fled and decided to use it on Lazurias Forest.
We suppressed our aura and quietly flew above the skies; there we saw how the dragons destroyed the forests and killed humans. It was too painful to see it. However, we couldn’t help them; we were too weak.
We used the crisis to secretly enter the orb and recuperate for some days before setting out and helping the humans once again. But, the moment we entered, we found that we are unexpectedly unable to get out.
We could let others come inside this place as we please, but we are not in control of the exit. You should have noticed that the door quickly closed as soon as you got inside, right? It’s as if the realm was sealed and prevented any exit.
If it wasn’t for our ability to predict the future, we wouldn’t be able to find out that the rampage of the dragons had turned into another war. We tried our best to seek and create an exit, but we only failed. We relied on our ability to continue monitoring the outside world while continuously studying the structure of this secluded realm.”
Kuro became bewildered, “Then how could Rosalie exit the realm when we, and you, wisdom dragons, can’t?” This was actually a questionable and contradictory part of the narration.
Raphael gently shook his head, “We don’t also know how, but the hidden realm seems to allow children from entering and exiting.”
After processing everything, Kuro was a lot more worried. It seemed that the problem was the realm itself. They had to find an exit as soon as possible.
“Young man, Kuro, do not lose hope; I would like you to see something first. It might be the key for you to be able to exit from the hidden realm.”
“Really? I hope that it is true, for we still have to find a way to travel back to our world. But before that, there is one thing bothering me though.”
Kuro rolled on Raphael’s fur. Fortunately, Crescent’s seatbelt was adjustable and followed Kuro, preventing him from falling and being swept away by the gush of winds. Crescent noticed his master’s fondness for the dragon's fur and volunteered to ask the question on Kuro's behalf.
“If it wasn’t the power of the tamers who controlled the wisdom dragons, then there should be another party involved—is what master would like to ask right?”
Kuro hummed in agreement, still rolling around in deep satisfaction.
“The power that the person had is likely similar to the tamers; however, it is inferior in terms of efficacy since it wasn’t able to affect us, Wisdom Dragons. But a lot of things are still unknown for we weren’t able to actually investigate the matter on hand.”
Kuro felt tired rolling around and tried to take a fruit from his storage. When he saw that his storage-space was still working, he concluded that the realm was only banning exits and not all space-related abilities.
Crescent peeled the fruits and placed them on a makeshift plate he created with his Black Filament. He beckoned Kuro to sit comfortably as he listened to Raphael’s narration.
Raphael continued, “We heard some events from young Rosalie’s narration. Honestly, the young girl’s narration was not entirely reliable, but we managed to figure out something. The probable reason why the other dragons had wreaked havoc must be due to memory loss.”
This certainly caught the duo’s attention.
“Remember how I told you how dark dragons fought us? There was something strange with their movements, as if they were rampaging because of confusion. We, the wisdom dragons, could clearly see it with our eyes.
Another thing, normally, even if we are controlled, we are still powerful enough to speak our thoughts to other dragons. Yet, all those times, the Dark Dragons didn’t speak and only destroyed everything they saw.”
Kuro tried to speculate conclusions based on Raphael's discussions when he suddenly flinched and widened his eyes. He looked a little confused as he looked around. The plate of fruit on his lap fell and swept by the air.
Crescent became worried, “Master, is there something wrong?”
“I… I don’t know. There’s something calling me, and I can feel a very strong, imposing, and powerful presence…” Kuro was really baffled. He felt a strong consciousness inside his mind that was not of his own. But he couldn't figure out where or whom it came from.
Then, Raphael spoke, “We have arrived.”
-End of Chapter 10-
